AU Hires New AD Allen Greene (Updated 1/19/18: Presser Added)

[AUApostle 7,651]

22 minutes ago, Auburn06 said:

To be fair, Alabama hires seasoned coaches, AD's...etc. people who have proven themselves.

Alabama is serious, Auburn is not.  Has nothing to do with AA, this guy would not get hired at Alabama because he is too young/inexperienced. 

Auburn hires young people, to see how they work out.... 

 

Bruce Pearl and Brad Bohannon.

[ellitor 33,091]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

It has fallen off recently. The big money didn't want JJ handling any new projects.

Soooooo much this ^^^^^

[abw0004 10,110]

36 minutes ago, leglessdan said:

Really surprised with all the crybabies in this thread. What were y'all expecting? Were you guys expecting some giant name from a highly successful AD to come here and put up with the meddling from the GOB club? ??? We've all complained for the past 2 or 3 decades about the manipulation and it appears we hire a guy that has no ties to the regime and all you do is come in here and spew bitter comments? I thought Auburn people were better than that? Maybe that's just a fascade? We totally went against the usual grain with this hire and instead of reveling in excitement to what Auburn can become without the puppet strings, you whine and condescend. Ridiculous. 

This post could be copied and pasted into every thread discussed this week.  People are in weird moods this week along with the trolls who have come back out of the woods.   There must have been some sort of signal sent up into the air to get them all to appear again.  

[ellitor 33,091]

1 hour ago, AU-24 said:

The money ? is there, the projects were not. If there’s one thing Auburn can do, they can hire an athletic director not qualified for the position.

Getting people to spend it late was JJ's problem. It's why his original JHS stadium renovation master plan went belly up a couple years ago.

[DAG 33,980]

40 minutes ago, leglessdan said:

Really surprised with all the crybabies in this thread. What were y'all expecting? Were you guys expecting some giant name from a highly successful AD to come here and put up with the meddling from the GOB club? ??? We've all complained for the past 2 or 3 decades about the manipulation and it appears we hire a guy that has no ties to the regime and all you do is come in here and spew bitter comments? I thought Auburn people were better than that? Maybe that's just a fascade? We totally went against the usual grain with this hire and instead of reveling in excitement to what Auburn can become without the puppet strings, you whine and condescend. Ridiculous. 

There have been a quite a bit to complain about this season, but in particularly, the last two hires have been solid. Can’t make everyone happy though .

But I will say this , go to other boards (not you exactly, but the pumpers). This website is as tame as it gets when it comes to disputes and angry birds .

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 minute ago, DAG said:

There have been a quite a bit to complain about this season, but in particularly, the last two hires have been solid. Can’t make everyone happy though .

what last 2 hires you speak of?

[abw0004 10,110]

 

Tenure at Buffalo

Greene spent the last two years as the athletics director at Buffalo, where he succeeded current UCF AD Danny White. Prior to being named Buffalo's AD, Greene served under White as a deputy athletic director and senior associate athletics director. During his time as deputy AD, he oversaw Buffalo's day-to-day operations and was in charge of the school's football and men's and women's basketball programs -- each of which made their respective postseasons during that time.

 

Major accomplishments at Buffalo

During his time at UB, Greene was responsible for several major accomplishments for the school's athletics department. He helped break ground on an $18 million indoor practice facility for the Bulls that had been on the university's docket for nearly two decades. He also helped the school secure an apparel deal with Nike.

Greene was instrumental in fundraising at Buffalo, conjuring up donor support for the athletics program and helped spearhead a master plan for facilities upgrades as well as lead projects that included football turf replacement, the Buffalo Sports Medicine Center, the Murchie Family Football Center and a premium seating section at the Bulls' stadium that was unveiled in 2015.

On the field, Buffalo sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament in a two-year span under Greene, including the men's and women's basketball teams in 2016. Prior to his arrival, UB had just one collective tournament appearance in its history.

Off the field, UB's teams had a GPA above 3.0 for 11 straight semesters, with the football team earning its highest GPA in program history.

 

Greene is the third African-American AD in SEC history

Greene is set to become just the third African-American athletics director in the history of the SEC and the first to earn that title as an outside hire. Greene joins Vanderbilt's David Williams and former Georgia athletics director Damon Evans in that exclusive club. Both Williams and Evans worked for their respective universities before being elevated to AD.

 

He has SEC ties

While Greene is an outside hire for Auburn, the up-and-coming administrator does have ties to the SEC. Prior to his time in Buffalo, Greene worked with the UMAA Foundation at Ole Miss from 2009-12. While at Ole Miss, Greene held several positions, including major gifts officer, assistant AD for development and assistant AD for development/priority seating. He was vital to the creation and execution of the largest capital campaign in school history ($150 million).

Along with his ties to Ole Miss, Greene has connections to LSU in the form of longtime baseball coach Paul Mainieri. Greene was recruited by Mainieri to Notre Dame and played for him during his time in South Bend.

“I recruited Allen as an 18-year old baseball player from Seattle in my first recruiting class at Notre Dame 22 years ago and have watched him grow from a great college athlete into an astute administrator in college athletics,” Mainieri said in 2015 when Greene was named Buffalo's AD. “Whether it was working in NCAA compliance at Notre Dame, raising money at Ole Miss or handling his myriad of duties while working with Danny White at Buffalo, Allen has continually proven to be a dependable and loyal professional.  His personality, intelligence, impeccable integrity and ability to pull people together will energize UB athletics and all those who care about the university.”

Buffalo athletics director Allen Greene is expected to be hired for the same role at Auburn. (Photo courtesy Derek Gee/Buffalo News)

Greene's education background

While at Notre Dame, Greene earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the Mendoza College of Business in 1999. He also holds a master's degree in liberal studies from Indiana University, which he earned in 2009.

Greene played in the New York Yankees' farm system

After playing three years in the outfield at Notre Dame, where he played for current LSU coach Paul Mainieri, Greene was selected by the New York Yankees in the ninth round of the 1998 MLB Draft after his junior year. At the time, he was the 13th-highest draft pick in Notre Dame history.

Greene spent four seasons in the Yankees' system, playing for their Minor League affiliates the Oneonta Yankees (1998), the Greensboro Bats (1999), the Tampa Yankees (2000) and the Elmira Pioneers (2001). During his professional career, Greene his .240 with 24 home runs, 126 RBI and a .688 OPS.

Beginnings at Notre Dame

After his professional baseball career ended, Greene worked in the athletics department at his alma mater, Notre Dame, from 2003-09. Greene worked in development and NCAA compliance during his time in South Bend. 

He spent his first five years working in the university's compliance department as coordinator of compliance, working to certify eligibility of Notre Dame's student-athletes while also maintaining the compliance database and website. After that, Greene transitioned to a role as program coordinator in the Athletics Advancement department, where he was responsible for the development of various stewardship processes for the Joyce Athletics Grants-in-Aid program and the Rockne Heritage Fund.

Post-baseball, pre-Notre Dame

After his baseball career ended but before he returned to Notre Dame, Greene was an assistant property manager for Common Ground Realty in Philadelphia. Following that, he spent two years with Shamrock Net Design, LLC in South Bend, Ind., first as a strategic and project manager with the company in September 2001 before being promoted to director of finance and internal operations the following year.

Personal life

Greene, a native of Seattle, is married with three children. His wife, Christy, graduated from Notre Dame in 1996. They have two daughters, Rian and Seneca, and a son, Samuel.

 

[leglessdan 1,934]

4 minutes ago, DAG said:

There have been a quite a bit to complain about this season, but in particularly, the last two hires have been solid. Can’t make everyone happy though .

But I will say this , go to other boards (not you exactly, but the pumpers). This website is as tame as it gets when it comes to disputes and angry birds .

Lol. I get ya. I'm not a sunshine pumper by any means, I'm just gonna give the man a chance before I downplay him. We are in uncharted waters here with this AD hire. For decades we've had "Good Auburn men" running the show. We have complained for decades about the AD being an "inside job". Now we have an outsider with hopefully a fresh new vision that doesn't fall in line with the same ol BS. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

definitely more outside 'new' blood.

Let's give the new President and AD a chance to succeed for AU. To find fault with either of them, is to say to those fans, you will find fault with anyone we had hired.

I want better days for our sports programs. 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

WDE Mr. Greene

Can you co-pilot?

[AuCivilEng1 11,004]

Good hire IMO. I can't wait to see what he can do about Jordan Hare. And he's made deals with Nike before. Excellent.

 

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

1 hour ago, leglessdan said:

Really surprised with all the crybabies in this thread. What were y'all expecting? Were you guys expecting some giant name from a highly successful AD to come here and put up with the meddling from the GOB club? ??? We've all complained for the past 2 or 3 decades about the manipulation and it appears we hire a guy that has no ties to the regime and all you do is come in here and spew bitter comments? I thought Auburn people were better than that? Maybe that's just a fascade? We totally went against the usual grain with this hire and instead of reveling in excitement to what Auburn can become without the puppet strings, you whine and condescend. Ridiculous. 

There have been extremely few posts as you describe. 

You are acting like everyone is blasting the hire, when in reality, 95% of the people are praising the hire.

SMH

[leglessdan 1,934]

3 minutes ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

There have been extremely few posts as you describe. 

You are acting like everyone is blasting the hire, when in reality, 95% of the people are praising the hire.

SMH

Shake your head all you want. Lol. Fact is 100% of people have blasted the good ol boy network. We're moving away from that it appears. If my post doesn't apply to you then keep on moving. Not sure why you felt the need to respond to me at all to be honest. 

[DAG 33,980]

1 hour ago, steeleagle said:

what last 2 hires you speak of?

Grimes and our recent AD hire 

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

8 minutes ago, leglessdan said:

Shake your head all you want. Lol. Fact is 100% of people have blasted the good ol boy network. We're moving away from that it appears. If my post doesn't apply to you then keep on moving. Not sure why you felt the need to respond to me at all to be honest. 

LoL

You are right 100% have blasted the good ole boy network. It does appear we are moving away from it.

And it kind of applies to me. When I first saw the hire I was a bit concerned that he was the "major gift donor" guy for Ole Miss right before Ole Miss was being investigated. At first, I wasn't sold, but @ellitor eased my feelings about the hire. However as I said before, your comment is as if everyone was just bashing the hire when it's simply not the case... At all... even a little bit...

Oh and btw... This is a forum. It lives by people responding to other people. This brings people back to the website, thus creating ad revenue for the website. If people stopped responding to others, the site would die.

But seriously, your original comment that I responded to was so far off base I had to respond. If you were talking to one person specifically, maybe respond to them.... 

[ellitor 33,091]

Oh brother...

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

16 hours ago, AU-24 said:

So from the MAC to the SEC? Buffalo, really? Buffalo?

This is potentially the best thing to ever happen to Auburn University athletics.  So far outside the proverbial "box" as to be earth shattering.  We need somebody who can actually think for himself...and a baseball guy to boot.  This could be a grand slam (ha), I know I'll be pulling hard and doing everything I can to help him succeed.

THIS IS SO ENCOURAGING.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

1 hour ago, steeleagle said:

definitely more outside 'new' blood.

Let's give the new President and AD a chance to succeed for AU. To find fault with either of them, is to say to those fans, you will find fault with anyone we had hired.

I want better days for our sports programs. 

Whether actually included verbatim in the job description or not, one might hope that maintenance and protection of a good name is relevant to the position.

I am sanguine with the hire of Claude Allen Greene IV.

WDE

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

The more I think about this hire the happier I get. What needed to be done. 

[aubiefifty 16,766]

i think this could be a great hire but i think people are missing the point to an extent.any new hire is never guaranteed to work out. sometimes things just do not work out. my worry is if our new AD somehow does not work out i just hope we do not wait a decade or two to make a change if it is needed. that being said i like the hire and i hope it works out great for all of us.

[leglessdan 1,934]

@Auburn2Eugene sent you a pm bud.

[Swamp Eagle 5,134]

5 hours ago, WDG said:

The State University of New York at Buffalo is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. It is commonly referred to as the University at Buffalo or SUNY Buffalo, and was formerly known as the University of Buffalo.

Moto: Mens sana in corpore sano (Latin)

orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.

fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem,

qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat

naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores,

nesciat irasci, cupiat nihil et potiores

Herculis aerumnas credat saevosque labores

et venere et cenis et pluma Sardanapalli.

monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare; semita certe

tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae.

—Roman poet Juvenal (10.356-64)

 

I hope you read at not of

 

 

 

 

Is that anything like a "mea culpa?"

[keesler 5,924]

I love this new leaf AU has turned over. 

We have a fresh new Prez that walked into a snake pit in this Athletic Dept the moment he stepped on campus.  He was able to systematically cut out a tenured Athletic Director who was so damn entrenched in the system that he did everything in his power to dig his heels in so deep that we thought he could never be ousted.  Bravo Pres Leath!

Now we have a young, energetic Athletic Director completely without Auburn ties (he is not an "Auburn Man") that's a good thing IMO.  Greene comes with a fresh set of eyes, with new,  innovative management skills,  and I feel like he'll take time to evaluate the Department as a whole and he'll be able to make substantial cut backs to a bloated AD. 

I'm celebrating today for a seriously bright future for Auburn!

 

 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

6 hours ago, WDG said:

The State University of New York at Buffalo is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. It is commonly referred to as the University at Buffalo or SUNY Buffalo, and was formerly known as the University of Buffalo.

Moto: Mens sana in corpore sano (Latin)

orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.

fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem,

qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat

naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores,

nesciat irasci, cupiat nihil et potiores

Herculis aerumnas credat saevosque labores

et venere et cenis et pluma Sardanapalli.

monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare; semita certe

tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae.

—Roman poet Juvenal (10.356-64)

 

I hope you read at not of

 

 

 

 

Where there's a Will...

[saminbama 740]

Should make Sir Charles happy.  After we didn't hire the coach from Buffalo some years back,  he was very outspoken.   Instead, we hire their AD.